DANA DONOR PROFILE

Ed & Shirley Hansen: Eyewitnesses to History

Ed D ’39 T ’42 and Shirley (Bondo ’42) Hansen arrived in New York City in 1948 to help start a Bible college.

The college’s facilities consisted of a basement and some kindergarten-level chairs and a table. There was just one student and two professors, and the whole idea of a Bible school was a little foreign to Lutherans in general and the Hansens in particular. Plus the Midwest-bred Hansens were more than a little foreign in Lower Manhattan. The appointment was for a year.

“It was a very inauspicious beginning,” Ed said.

But by the time the Hansens left eight years later, Lutheran Bible Institute had flourished and moved out of the basement to a facility in Teaneck, N.J. New York City and the Hansens were no longer strangers.

For many people, the Hansens’ New York experience would be a life test, a moment of truth that would determine the path they would take throughout life. But for the Hansens, those kinds of situations have been their path through life. Every twist and turn has placed the Hansens directly in the path of American Lutheran history, when they had always intended to be spectators. The strangest twist comes late in the story.

Ed and Shirley met at Dana during the last days of the Great Depression. Ed took a basic liberal arts course, getting involved with music and drama and “whatever other mischief there was.” He was part of a male quartet popular enough to tour to Lutheran churches on both coasts and many places in between. Shirley attended Dana for a year, leaving to pursue a nursing degree in her home state of Minnesota.

The couple married after Ed graduated from Trinity Seminary in 1942, and were called to Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. They stayed there for five years before leaving for New York. Along the way, Shirley worked in nursing. She wanted to be with patients, but often her skills and talents were put to use supervising other nurses.

When the Hansens returned to Minnesota in 1956, instead of coming back to a peaceful home, they found the church in ferment. From his parish in Hutchinson, Ed saw his own United Evangelical Lutheran Church, the American (German) Lutheran Church and the Evangelical (Norwegian) Lutheran Church come together to form the American Lutheran Church.

“We thought we were just spectators,” Ed said of the process, “They divided Minnesota into three districts and I found myself elected president of ours.”

Becoming president (later called bishop) of the Southwestern Minnesota District meant another move, this time to Willmar, Minn. Ed was elected to three six-year terms, allowing the Hansens to stay in one place for 18 years.

After 38 years of service to the church and nursing, it was time to retire — almost. Golden Valley Lutheran College in Minneapolis needed to fill a vacancy in Biblical studies. The Hansens heeded the call and returned to Minneapolis, where they live today.

It wasn’t the sort of life that led to monetary riches, but it let the Hansens be witnesses to history, as well as friends to many.

History and friendships happen to be Ed and Shirley’s passions. They try to come to as many Dana Homecomings as possible to see old friends, and volunteer to work in the Danish Immigrant Archives (located in the C.A. Dana-LIFE Library) twice a year, mainly for the comaraderie they experience.

Shirley works on the massive project of cataloging the thousands of names the archive inherited from the Danish Brotherhood, an insurance organization. Ed sticks more to translating Danish literature to English, a skill he owes to his days as a student at Dana.
Both Ed and Shirley’s grandparents were Danish immigrants. Ed’s parents could read, write and speak Danish, but it was not something they passed on to him.

“At home, when my parents wanted to keep secrets from me they spoke in Danish,” he said.

At Dana, he had the option of studying German or Danish. “I heard the German instructor was very strict,” he said. He took Danish.

His fluency came from a drama production of a Kaj Munk play put on by Trinity and Dana students entirely in Danish. The play earned such rave reviews, cities such as Omaha, Des Moines and Chicago asked the students to perform.

Ed has used this skill to translate a book on the early history of the Danish Lutheran Church (part of Danes in America, available from Lur Publications), originally written by a pastor. He also presents papers on the contributions and history of Danish Lutherans in America.

Through it all, the Hansens have calmly worked through all of life’s twists with acceptance. They did the same with perhaps the strangest one of all. After years of being servants of humanity, the Hansens became wealthy overnight. A relative, who had been financially savvy, left them $500,000 in his will.

The Hansens first thoughts weren’t of new cars or luxury cruises.

“We thought, ‘What will we ever do with $500,000?’ ” Ed said. “We decided the best answer was to give it away.”

They decided which organizations had been meaningful in their lives and divided the money among them.

“We’ve always loved Dana,” Shirley said. “It was just a natural choice. We’re thankful for the education we got. It’s amazing to think of what we received for $300 a year.”

The Hansens generous gift to Dana will be divided between the endowment, the Danish archives and scholarships — the latter something particularly symbolic for Ed, who was almost dismissed from Dana for not paying a bill of $50. His father, who at the time owned a machine shop, scoured helped pay for Ed’s education by scouring around for scrap metal to sell to the U.S. government, at that time gearing up for war.

“We are very grateful for Ed and Shirley’s friendship and for this generous gift, which will ultimately benefit Dana students for years to come,” said Jim Jorgensen, Director of Planned Giving. “Estate gifts are vitally important for Dana’s future and I encourage others to follow Ed and Shirley’s fine example of conscientious stewardship.”

The Hansens said they hope their gift will allow more students to experience the education, in both academics and life, that Dana has offered so many for so long.

“Dana helped us to become more firm and certain in our own Christian faith,” Ed said. “The president (Dr. Myrvin Christopherson) still has that ideal that you should bring up people of integrity who believe in service rather than in being served.”

Ed and Shirley are two of Dana’s shining lights. They’ve given their lives in service to their Lord, their church and their community. They love their Danish heritage and Dana and share generously of their time, talents and any wealth that they have. Most of all, they love people and show kindness to all of God’s children.

—Dr. Myrvin Christopherson
Dana College president